I had always wanted to do a road trip around the US and finally I was able to do it!! Although I had to cut it short (because we have Baby A coming soon), it was an experience of a lifetime and Im confident it wont be the last road trip Ill be doing around the US.
I know that the timming of my trip might seem weird, not appropiate and/or selfish, but at the same time while in the middle of the Corona virus crisis I was able to be more secluded than almost everyonelse, national parks were probably less crowded than ever and gas prices were the cheapest Ive seen in the US (I paid $1.19 x gallon once!!) Also know, that the initial idea of the trip was to meet Jessilane along the way in several ocations, but obviously because of the entire corona virus situation that did not happen.
JEEP SET UP
Jeep set up wise, I was lucky enough to have a friend working for ARB which definetly hook me up with his Roof Top Tent (RTT). Without it, the trip wouldnt have been as 5 star camping as it was. Because….. lets be honest! I loved camping! but sleeping in a ground tent is never comfortable…. I also got the ARB Zero 47 quarts (where I had all my frozen food), a small YETI cooler (where I had my drinks and also served as a step for whenever getting tito up in the RTT) and I installed a drawer in the trunk of the jeep for extra storage. Oh, I also instaled a little camping table in the rear door of the jeep which I used for cooking in the gas stove.
I also did a couple extra upgrades to the jeep, such as 35” tires and a 3.5” lift kit suspension, but actually ended up really using it only once throughout the entire 23 day road trip. The only thing I would have change or add to my camping set up would be a BIG GOAL ZERO battery that can power up a small air fryer…. I currently have a 500 goal zero which isnt able to power up the air fryer…. which for me, that am not a big cook, wouldve made a big difference…PREPARATION
If you know me, you know i like to go more with the flow and avoid serious planning. So not a lot of preparation went into planning this trip honestly. Basically I knew that tons of national parks and forest were going to be closed because of the entire corona virus situation (but either ways most of them dont allow dogs) so anyways I wasnt going to be able to stay at them even though if they were to be open.
Camping: There is an app called “HIPCAMP” which was my savior and that is actually why I was so relaxed in not planning the trip much. It works just like an airbnb but for camping (Genious, right?!?… keep in mind that you also have KOA’s all around the US, but usually they suck because they are usually located next to highways and you get no quite hours, but they are super practical because of how many locations they have all around the US). So with this couple of tools for lodging, I knew I could spontaneous book a campsite for any night at any moment.
Tito: One of my biggest worries and maybe my only worry was that I had never done a 3-5 week road trip with a doggie. Having rescued Tito less than a couple months ago I was also intrigued by how this trip was going to develop. 99% of my research ended being about how to road trip with doggies. Just know that almost every popular town in the US has dog day cares, so in case you want to do some activiy where you cant take you puppie, you will probably find a day care for the little one. Most of your camping doggie needs can be purchased at ruffgear. Dont forget shampoo, food, water container for inside the car when driving long days, treats, etc. I bought a rope system for camping which served great when camping around other dogs or other people which didnt like doggos. I also got Tito a huge blanket, and he knew that whenever he saw the blanket laying in hte back seat, that meant that we had a long drive ahead of us.
Route: Basically the only thing I knew for sure was that I wanted to get to Colorado as soon as possible in order to get some backcountry/spring skiing in before the snow melted, but initially I had to delay the trip for one month because of the Corona Virus… we didnt know what was the gravity and extend of it, so I actually had cancelled the road trip in my mind 100%. That was until Monday, April 13th when Jessi and I found out we were goin to have a baby!!! Exiting news right?!?! Well that very next day, Jessi said, “hey, I think you should go on that roadtrip now, since after having a baby, we dont know when its the next time you are actually going to have an opportunity like that. Less than a week after she said that I was already on the road!
So I drew one map with two options; one which will get me to sedona and utah first (good idea if I wanted to get there fast because of the heat coming in the area) and the second route was the one which was going to get me to CO. first (to get there before snow melted). I reach out to some friends to see who wanted to drive out from florida (the worse drive ever) with me, so the start of the trip was more enjoyable and Shebo and Daniel jumped in the first leg of the trip to North Carolina, Brevard.
THE TRIP
Brevard, NC: At first I didnt know what to expect from being by myself for so much time with tito driving along the US. Our first stop was Brevard, NC where we stayed at some BEAUTIFUL cabins at “Pilot Cove“. Its perfectly located just a couple minutes outside the Pisgah National Forest, but in my opinion it wasnt such a good idea to start my month road trip in a fancy cabin such as the pilot cove. Dont get me wrong, I loved it, but kinda didn’t wanted to get use to the idea of staying in places like that one.
Brevard is the perfect place for mountain bikers, I have even heard that it might be the MTB meca for the east coast. Road ciclists, runners, kayakers and people who just want to admire nature will also find numerous activities to do here… you have several scenic routes, hikes and waterfalls where you can even jump from rocks. You are also close by the smoky mountians national park if thats also of your interest. (Check out my bike ride and run here)
Our next stop after N.C was Bentoville, but before getting there I had a couple stops…. First in Nashville, TN where I stopped to make a quick lunch visit to a dear friend of mine from college “Alvarito”. The idea was to stay there for the night, but that same day I heard from the Doggie day care in Bentoville that I needed to get there the next day before 3:00pm in order to get on time for titos interview… So i had to cut short my time in Nashville and Alvarito showed my around Broadway Av. and had a short walk near the parthenon. Beautifull and awesome vibes in this city, but the huracaine which had just passed by and the corona lockdown made it look kinda like a ghost town. He aslo took me to get some authentic southern food… RIBS… and they were amazing! From here we drove 5 more hours to camp at KOA memphis. After this first campig day (which sucked….) I knew the rest of trip was going to be interesting. The first night camping was horrible, it rained, we had wind adversatory alerts and the temperature drop below frezzing. It was my first time in a while on a RTT and I honestly didnt know if it was going to stand all the weather elements that night, but it did… and it did PERFECTLY. I had to go down to the car in the middle of the night to grab the sleeping bag and leave the blanket for tito, and from there everything was fine…. (except for the sound of the passing trucks in the highway next to campground).
Bentoville, AR: I got to Tito’s appointment right on time. He had to stay there for three hours to see if he was a fit to stay with the other 30 dogs outside. The place is called “CAMP BOW WOW” and i couldnt be more happy with that place. I was so happy, that next time I plan a long road trip, I will even look for their locations to try and stop where they are so I can leave tito and feel ok about leaving him the entire day. I was lucky enough enough to have those 3 hours for myself and decided to hit the local trails.At this point some, or most of you are probably questioning yourself why such a random place such as Bentoville, AR????? The few people who have heard of this place is becuase of wallmart headquarters being here.. other than that and becuase of the fact that one of Wallmart owner sons is an amid cyclist and has invested tons of money in the build of mtb trails in the area nothing else comes to mind of why should be aware of Bentoville existance.
Let me tell you that Bentoville, AR has one of the best build trails I’ve ever ridden in, if not the best. Not talking about views or technically of trails, Im talking about how smooth and well made they are. You can feel they have invested a lot of time in making sure it feels smooth, almost like flow trails.
I met up with my friend Jorge (AKA: @diversifiedcycling) who I had met in miami riding road bikes, and he was kind enough to show me aroung and took me on a long ride at a trail system called “The Back 40”. According to some locals, incluiding him, it should be a must ride if ever in the area, and you can jump on it basically from downtown. https://www.strava.com/activities/3532574766 . We ended our long ride at a super cool cafe/bike shop called Meteor… had a couple great beers and pizza and even bought a couple souvenirs. The cafe/bike shop is a gathering point for all kind of cyclists (gravel, road and mtb).Eureka Springs: I found a magic campground “near” bentoville. A hippie town one hour away from Wallmarts headquaters town. A scenic highway is what connects this two places, where you will not trully feel is one hour because of how pretty the scenery will be. I guess it is also a popular destination for bikers, since everywhere you saw you would read “Bikers Welcome”.
The place where I stayed is called “Open Air Meditation“. Is a 10 acre piece of land where the owner lives (which I did not meet), although the guy who showed me where my campsite was was a super interesting person… Having biked around the world twice he told me some amazing stories. Based on the reviews read on Hipcamp the person is a super host and super espiritual as well. The place even has a hot tub overlooking the rolling hills of Arkansas.
The next day, I wanted to go for a trail run with tito. I went to a local running shop in bentoville (customer attention was amazin) Rush Running and the owner pointed me in the right direction. Me and Tito logged in some 10 miles at the Hobbs State forest and got lost while trying to go back to the car. I usually use the apps forktrails or singletracks, but this time I forgot to dowload the layers, therefore whenever I lost signal I lost the map…. So we ended up being lost for around one hour and a half and ended up walking beside the road which was kinda scary… but at the end made it back and safe to the car. Tito had a blast…. while I was panicking because we were lost he was just jumping on me and bitting me because he didnt wanted to stop running… (strava link here to our run)
Monument Rock, KS: So our next stop was Colorado. One of my favorite if not my favorite state in the US. But before we got there we divided the drive from Bentoville in two, so we slept at a motel near by Monument rocks. Monuments Rocks is about an hour away from the main highway but I think it is worth the detour if your are not running under a tight schedule. It is one of this weird Gods creations on earth, super random but beautiful rock formation in the middle of the Kansas flatlands. It was also the perfect spot for tito to run around and spend some energy, since this long driving days really caught up to him.
Denver, CO: I was suppoused to meet Enric at his place in Denver, but that guy works like 12 hours shifts everyday, so while arriving I texted him for a place to get a quick run in. Table North in Golden was the winner. Fell in love with Golden, and even more in love with that little mountian. I was amazed to see the amount of people getting some sweat in, but Enric tells me that it was becuase of the Corona Virus and people not going to work. It was a short run, but fun and much needed after a long day driving. I ended up spending three nights at Enrics house, doing some laundry, taking tito to the vet, washing the Jeep and getting some groseries before I continued the road trip.
I finally had some time to read my book, cook, take a shower in the FREZZING river, seat back, relax and take in the moment. I had been so busy, driving around, getting places, riding my bike, running that at one moment I had forgotten to actually sit back, relax and take in all the experience I was living. And thats the thing with living in a hectic city such as miami…. we never have time to enjoy and acknowledge life… and that is exactly why I needed this trip.
Ouray, CO: The ideal spring skiing location. Managed to book a mountain pass hut at Imagoen Pass. Parked the car at Old Camp Mine rd. and hiked 5k up the mountain with snow (was suppoused to skin up, but long story short…. snow didnt show up until half way through the hike and ended up going back to my car to leave the skis, just to find out after half way point that snow from that moment on was waist high…..ended up destroying my calfs, but I was the first person ever to make it to the hut with snow without skis… I actually dont know if that is something I should fell proud off or ashamed by….. but anyway it just prooves how stuborn I am….). It was worth it. Hut/Cabin was beautiful, food was amazing (Eric, the host was a cheff for 15+ years and he prepares breakfast and dinner as part of the experience). Tito got a chance to experience the snow for the first time and he LOVED it!!! Also got to spent time in the hot tub fueled by burning wood…. and the most important part of all…. found a secret/not so secret skiing gem (going back in March for suuuureeee). There was a family staying next door at the second hut/cabin, and while at dinner we had some interesting conversations about society now a days and politics… Interesting and lovely people.
Canyonlands National Park, UT: The drive from Ouray wasnt bad at all… It took us somewhere around 5-7 hours and from the moment you pass the Monticello town, you start seeing incredible rock formations and from there you know you have made it to Utah/Grand Canyon area. I found a secluded place on Hipcamp by the name of “Needles Outpost” just in the entrance of Canyonlands National Park.
They do make a good job letting you know that the campground is super secluded and raw, but I personally didnt digest that until the moment when I got to the campground. The place is HOT and super secluded… when I first got there I thought tito wasnt going to be able to handle the heat, so we drove around and parked and cooked at the stadium bowl where we were lucky enough to find a roof to park the jeep underneath it until the sun faded away a little. They do have wifi around the grocery store, but no one was there to give the passcode, so If it wasnt thanks to the Satelite phone Enric had led me borrow I wouldve have to go back at least a couple hours to main roads to get a phone signal and let Jessilane know everything was ok.
Once we drove back to the campground was starting to drop and the campground became so much more enjoyable. They also have hot showers available for $5 for 3 minutes (my only search criteria on hipcamp was that it needed to have access to showers). The sunset here was one of the best I’ve ever had the chance to experience. Again, just imagine being in the middle of tha grand canyon with basically nobody around you (becauase of the corona virus) and experiencing all the majesty to yourself alone… and tito off course.
We had lunch later at The Spoke where we had a cesars salad and some fish tacos which were really good. Afterwards we stopped at Moab cyclery to buy some souvenirs and later went back to the hotel (we did not end up camping in moab because of how hot it was… but we did hear amazing things about a camping spot called Onion Creek, fyi). I stayed at the hotel until 6:00pm and then headed towards the Moab Signature trails to get some biking in. It was a short two hour ride, but I believe that it was enough to leave me open mouth wanting to go back asap to get some real riding done.
Sedona, AZ: It was kinda long drive…. I wanted to stop by monument valley to cut the trip into two drives, but because of the Corona Virus the park was shut (1/2 clossures I really wanted to check out). If you are driving from Moab to Sedona you should break it at least in two days so you can visit zion, monument valley and maybe even flagstaff. Once you pass Flagstaff the drive down to Moab is unbelieveable. That combination of green with desert brown was super nice to see after spending the last few days with super arid vegetation. We were meeting the legends of the levintons and Alexei aka “The Millenial and the friend that NEVER lets me die on any adventure/travel”. I bail on picking up the milenial so I could get to visit Devils Bridge with Pau (ale’s gf who arrived earlier than them from miami). Letting milenial die in the airport (letting someone die translates from spanish into english…. kinda like ditching somebody???) was super worth it, since they (levintons and milenial) didnt get a chance to visit the bridge – sorry not sorry.
The following day we woke up early am to get in some trail run/hike in the morning with tito and the plan was to go for an mtb ride later in the afternoon. The trail run/hike was super fun, as I was able to share with friends and Tito… and we hadnt share the outdoors with anybody for a while now. The trail we visited was “West Fork trails“. Keep in mind that it was like a $10 per car to get in and that the 6kms was only one way. If you do not get there early you will find a lot of human traffic and also traffic to enter the parking area. Then we had some acai for breakfast and prepared to go mountian biking in the afternoon, so we headed to the bike shop to pick up the bicycles for the guys who didnt have their bicycles with them.
I was impressed on how this town/city has it all. Whole foods, restaurants, coffee places, 5 star hotels… you name it, you will probably find it in Sedona. Quite the oposite from most of the places I had visited along the road trip so far. We went on a beginners/intermediate ride this afternoon…. it was fun, sedona fun! We stopped a lot to take pictures and admire the beauty of sedona.
The next day Alex and I woke up really early and headed to ride the famous Hangover trail. Now I really get why Sedona is famous for insane lines and trails… This was the first time I had to get off my bike and hike around 70% or the trail itself. I trully doubt many people can ride this trail completely, but I had to go online to check out some videos of people actually riding this gnarly and sketchy trail. Check out this link of some guys actually slaying this trail, popping whellies and nose wheelies in some of the most difficult parts: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6gLl819vU8
Alex and I got back to the hotel, packed up super fast and headed to our camping site near by flagstaff called “the end of the world”. The long long drive was definetly worth it. (Tip: use the webpage “The Outbound” for local adventure insights).
The campground was beautifull, literay it feels like you are standing in top of the end of the world… It actually felt like overlooking some of the views from WestWorld. But the downside is that it was very busy and it was super sandy… Most of the campground sites we actually walked along were very sandy, so if you decide to head here, be preapared.
We had some burgers that night and the stars were just out of this world again. Tito went nuts in this campground… touche is that the moment when we arrived at camp, I was bragging to the twins, alex and Pau about how well behaved tito had been along the entire trip. And the truth is that he actually did, as you can see in the pictures he was rarely on leash and whenever we arrived at any campsite I let him off leash. But let me tell you that that last camping day of the entire road trip he went bananas.
For the last stops of our trip we had planned to stop at white sands national park and big bend national park, but both of them were closed at the moment, so i decided instead to stop at this small hipster town by the name of Marfa. Its suppoused to be a very artsy and culinary town in the middle of nowhere. Some very interesting architecture and art scenery in town. Definietly recomend it… I stayed at a unique place called “El Cosmico”, which has a little bit of everything; tents, campground, motorhomes and RV’s and crazy futuristic mirror houses. Had an amazing breakfast at “Do your thing Cafe” and inmediatly left town. Also a fun fact about Marfa, is that it is considered to be one of the best places in the US to star Gaze… some very sketchy stories about what has been seen from this town actually. It is a must stop, sleep and eat whenever going to Big Bend National Park.
MiBiCi Adventures 